I took our grandchildren to Shantzholm Pumpkin Patch recently and learned from owner Kevin Shantz about his most recent battles with Wilmot Township.
He faces a ban on signs posted on township roadsides to point customers to his farm. One he put up this fall was judged to be three inches over the line, and was removed by a bylaw enforcement officer.
Customers prefer to park along the roadside rather than in a parking lot he has provided. That prompted Wilmot Township politicians to call for a ban on parking. It's a regional road, so the decision was up to the Waterloo Region council.
Thankfully Geoff Lawrence, who is a Kitchener city politician, used his head and asked why it's reasonable to ban parking at the Shantz Farm, but not where Mennonites in Woolwich Township set up roadside buggies to market maple syrup.
In the end, the region's politicians voted to ban parking on one side of the road, which is the compromise Shantz proposed.
Buy local! Buy fresh! It's a movement that began in the Waterloo Region.
But Wilmot Township's politicians are doing their best to kill it.
